NB: The following is an updated repost intended to serve as a consciousness-raising reminder for June – it’s not what you look at that matters so much as what you SEE, so it’s time to get your metaphysical POV on!
There’s something in the air this month…or perhaps more precisely, the Earth. Earth Element, that is – Jupiter in Virgo and Pluto in Capricorn form another trine in June, and some auspicious omens may appear to us during this time.
At first they may seem small…trivial, even. Small enough to miss if we were to take each one out of context and look at it on its own. But they will also be bountiful – we’re going to get so many of them that if we back up and take it all in, it will coalesce into something huge we can’t miss. Jupiter in Virgo is like pointillism – if we stand too close, we only see the tiny dots and so don’t think much of it. But if we get some distance (read:perspective), we can see how all the minor details actually come together to make this grand picture. So what is “insignificant” under this energy, really? Nothing, because when we put all the little pieces together and connect the dots, The Sign becomes concrete. It’s regarding a major renovation/upgrade somewhere in our life…perhaps something health/wealth/work-related since we do have the Earth signs involved. Especially if you have a planet or point in your chart situated between 14-18 degrees of Taurus, Virgo, or Capricorn, do pay particular attention now. This aspect becomes exact on June 26th, when The Omens are apt to be strongest, but both these celestial bodies are within proximity to one another throughout June so definitely be on the lookout!
Continuing our contemplation of Pluto in Capricorn transits, there is yet another invaluable angle to consider if this body contacts a planet or point in our personal astrological chart. In addition to being deeply interior, Plutonic energies also represent a kind of breaking down process so that healthy renewal might take place. When we pause to reflect upon Capricorn’s association with protection and defenses, we see how this energy can relate to the beneficial destruction of psychological walls, barriers, etc. that we may have knowingly or unconsciously put up to keep people at a safe distance. I will explain –
Whenever we endure some kind of trauma or negative experience in life, sometimes it’s possible to harden over and develop this self-protective “crust”. The psyche develops this shell to function like shield or armor; to guard us from something that on some level may have seemed to threaten our very existence. While originally intended as a sort fail-safe mechanism to limit the level of devastation we experience, sometimes the perimeter wall becomes a bit extreme, as in a “No trespassing: Intruders will be shot” kind of thing. What once triggered a “normal” survival instinct actually becomes pathological, where we become afraid of real intimacy.
I believe one function of transiting Pluto in Capricorn touching a natal planet or point may be to show us how this kind of exoskeleton is obsolete; that a transit from Pluto in Capricorn can actually illuminate any kind of PTSD-like response so that we can learn to control it and let time and experience serve as a guide in determining when and with whom it’s safe to drop our defenses a bit and expose what we would otherwise be inclined to keep hidden under lock & key. It’s about learning to parse “normal” survival instincts that serve a legitimate function and that keep us safe from the ones that have – through no particular fault of our own – become twisted.
There is always strong resurrection potential whenever we are dealing with Pluto energy. But first we have to be willing to burn off all the dross….
There’s something in the air during March & June…or perhaps more precisely, the Earth. Earth Element, that is – Jupiter in Virgo and Pluto in Capricorn form a trine during these two months, and some auspicious omens may appear to us during these times.
At first they may seem small…trivial, even. Small enough to miss if we were to take each one out of context and look at it on its own. But they will also be bountiful – we’re going to get so many of them that if we back up and take it all in, it will coalesce into something huge we can’t miss. Jupiter in Virgo is like pointillism – if we stand too close, we only see the tiny dots and so don’t think much of it. But if we get some distance (read:perspective), we can see how all the minor details actually come together to make this grand picture. So what is “insignificant” under this energy, really? Nothing, because when we put all the little pieces together and connect the dots, The Sign becomes concrete. It’s regarding a major renovation/upgrade somewhere in our life…perhaps something health/wealth/work-related since we do have the Earth signs involved. If you have a planet or point in your chart situated between 14-20 degrees of Taurus, Virgo, or Capricorn, do pay particular attention…
You are having a Lunar-flavored Pluto-in-Capricorn transit if any one of the following applies:
Pluto in Capricorn comes into contact w/ your Moon
Pluto in Capricorn rolls over your IC/through your 4th House
Pluto in Capricorn opposes your Sun, Moon, or other significant planets you may have in the sign of Cancer
And, to a lesser extent:
If Pluto in Capricorn comes into contact w/ the planet that rules your 4th House/IC
With Pluto in Capricorn affecting a Lunar area of the chart, psychologically digging around in old, family-of-origin -related “stuff” may be in order for the sake of unearthing anything potentially dysfunctional that may still have a hold on the psyche and burying it for good. Funny this song came on while contemplating my own Lunar-flavored Pluto-in-Capricorn transit…I found the both the song title – “Roots” – and the lyrics disconcertingly apt:
“I know it’s gotta go like this, I know… Hell will always come before you grow… Trouble found me, trouble found me….
I’m going back to my roots Another day Another door Another high Another low Rock bottom, rock bottom, rock bottom….”
I found this to be a REALLY interesting depiction of the current astrology…American football fans have recently been dealing with the proposed relocation of several teams due the National Football League’s (NFL’s) concern that the stadium facilities for said teams were inadequate/outdated. While plans were submitted for renovation á la Pluto in Capricorn, despite this it ultimately looks as if the St. Louis Rams (hello, Aries!) and the San Diego Chargers – known affectionately as “The Bolts” for their electric, lightning-bolt insignia (hello, Uranus!) are going to relocate to Los Angeles, California.
Why is this astrologically significant? Because when news of this first hit during mid January 2016, Pluto in Capricorn & Uranus in Aries were squaring each other pretty hardcore. One better? Black Moon Lilith in companionship-oriented Libra was added to this mix as well, traveling opposite Uranus in Aries (that would be the Rams and the Chargers) and squaring those Pluto in Capricorn renovation plans, so it is rather fitting that these two teams would find themselves “together in exile” from their cities over degraded, sub-par stadium standards (Pluto in Capricorn) since BML symbolizes the (voluntary or involuntary) “Outcast”.
It’s funny, weird, and cool to see the astrology in play so plainly regarding such an ordinary thing; as if these sports teams were somehow literal “avatars” for the astrological energies in play, LOL!
I’ve been musing about Pluto’s long transit through Capricorn (until 2023) and its effects upon an individual chart; especially when we have personal planets or points being contacted by this astrological heavy hitter. One thing that occurred to me is the importance of metaphorical “deco stops” throughout our (individual and collective) Pluto in Capricorn journey. Deco stops – scuba diving slang for “decompression stops” – are a technique utilized by divers who descend to great depths. The further down a diver swims, the more intense the pressure exerted upon their bodies. This pressure causes the gasses they breathe through their air tanks to expand as they ascend, and if they try to rise to the surface too quickly and aren’t careful, this abrupt change in pressure can cause the gasses to create tiny bubbles in the bloodstream; a potentially life-threatening condition known as decompression sickness or “The Bends”.
To avert this, divers deliberately slow down their ascent and pause at marked depth intervals for a specified period of time, waiting until their body gradually decompresses at each stop as they return to more normal pressures. The body needs time to acclimate to this transition, for it is not naturally designed to withstand these kinds of forces and then just bob right back up to the surface; no – it needs time to assimilate the intensity of this experience before it can return to operating as normal.
This is not unlike dealing with Pluto in Capricorn…if we think of a Pluto transit as a symbolic journey to our Center – all the way down to the very core of our souls – we can start to see how this metaphor has resonance. When we experience Pluto in Capricorn contacting a planet or personal point in our chart, what we are dealing with is some heavy-duty, industrial-strength transformation somewhere in our lives. The changes and challenges we encounter along the way can be profound – often, an old “life” or old way of being “dies” in some way. Our physical, emotional, psychological, and energetic bodies therefore require time to process the intense experiences that are part and parcel of this metamorphosis; we need metaphorical “deco stops” as we make our preparations to ascend back into the Light.
It is understandable that when one spends a prolonged period of time in the Underworld, one might then find themselves in a rush to return to the surface and feel sunlight upon their face, for Pluto in Capricorn is the epitome of dense and heavy…at times its energy can feel like concrete cinder blocks that may threaten to drag us toward a cold, dark, bottom. Proper integration is essential for this reason; especially on a psychological level. We must therefore begin our ascent slowly and carefully, periodically checking our watches to ensure that we are spending enough time at each and every stop (hmmm…perhaps this entails processing loss to a degree, à la the Kubler-Ross 5 stages of grieving) on the journey upward. These pauses should be thought of as a time to take stock, gradually releasing as we go the weight – the ballast – associated with such a serious transformational process.
David Bowie has just passed over to The Other Side, folks – a sad day for all of Rock n Roll indeed! Bowie was a 17 degree Capricorn Sun and thus strongly affected by the current curtain call of the Pluto/Uranus square; very literally manifesting as his shocking (Uranus) death (Pluto). I would wager, though, with Pluto making its excruciating slow march toward his Sun that he had probably seen that freight train coming on the horizon a looooong time ago, even though it seemed sudden to all of us here on the outside. Pluto transits are like that, though…they are very private and interior. But we can even see the Plutonic themes very strongly in the title of his swan song work, “Lazarus”; the Uranian edge coming in as he sings about being “free”.
May he find true liberation in death…his work will always and forever remain immortal, which I think is about the highest honor any Capricorn could ever hope to achieve. ❤
In the wake of the second round of terror attacks on Paris over the weekend (the first being the Charlie Hebdo massacre earlier in the year), my thoughts have turned to all who have been affected by these senseless acts – may radiant golden rays of regeneration (physical AND psychological!) envelop those who have been traumatized and aid their healing process!
Now I try to limit my dietary intake of news for a litany of reasons I shan’t enumerate here, but suffice to say this story managed to insert itself in my consciousness nonetheless. I was struck in particular by how – in the days immediately following this tragedy – the media was quick in raising speculative concerns the Paris attacks could have possibly been orchestrated via the use of encryption apps. This flagged my radar, as encrypted messages are très Mercury in Scorpio, and with the Scorpio Sun joining with Mercury it makes astrological sense we would see a spotlight being put on this issue now. But what I find unsettling is how this conjecture could easily be used by politicians as an excuse to push for more intrusive data gathering processes, à la Patriot Act v2.0.
Therefore, I find myself compelled to point out that encryption apps themselves are neutral entities, and like any other tool it is the user’s intent and not the app itself that defines whether they are used as a force for good or evil. Before I go further, a general disclaimer is due that I am a fairly Plutonic person and the old “Those who have nothing to hide have nothing to fear” adage has NEVER held resonance for me. I value privacy and appreciate having a choice of whether or not to allow a deeper level of knowing/intimacy with people I personally hand-select and trust; therefore I do not care for the idea of somebody else making (or attempting to make) this decision for me by telling me I have to put all my cards on the table up front (regardless of whether it’s in the name of national security or not). That said, I’ve also never felt the need to use an encryption app but fully understand why some people might want to – nobody wants to feel like they’ve somehow regressed back to their teen years when their parents would surreptitiously pick up the other phone line to listen in on their private conversations in secret, right?
I would consequently wager that encryption apps have enjoyed a surge in popularity largely due to people resenting things like the intrusions of the Bush-era Patriot Act and the NSA’s overreaching mass surveillance practices. And to be fair, I am sure there are people from the cult of ISIS (and that’s exactly what it is; a cult – more on that in a future post) who are indeed misusing and abusing these apps for their own ends (much the same way they’re co-opting Youtube, Twitter, et al) but I’m fairly certain there are probably going to be a few political leaders who will point to this speculation about the potential for mis-use of these apps as an excuse to push their own political agendas for tightening governmental surveillance.
Why? When the Scorpio Sun and Mercury answer to Pluto in Capricorn, Big Brother is always watching. Where does it stop, though? Should we allow the threat of terrorism to continue to be used as an excuse for more invasive/restrictive government? Because Pluto in Capricorn can very easily corrupt law; especially via mis-uses and abuses of “authority” or in the name of “protection” – I have said for many years this energy can have a very totalitarian streak to it if we aren’t careful. So instead of the subject of encryption being painted in an entirely suspicious and negative light, I’d like to see a discussion that goes a LOT deeper and that provides more balance from ALL angles; including the reasons why it seems people feel an increasing need to protect their privacy from things like wire tapping, data mining, and covert intelligence gathering. Not just from government, either – some want to keep their information safe from hackers, for example. Or from other prying eyes – do you know that I just found out (to my horror) there is actually a smartphone app that lets parents read their kids’ texts? IMO, normalizing these kinds of spying behavior is a sign that something is indeed systemically screwed up. This degradation didn’t happen overnight, either – it has taken its time in unfolding. But now the issue is: Will we address the root cause(s) and put a stop to it, or will we continue to allow the destruction of boundaries? My concern is that if we don’t check this now, things could get *really* interesting (in a bad way) in a few years when Saturn moves into Capricorn and joins w/Pluto…
In part 1 of this series, I spoke of how Pluto in Capricorn represents the concept of something deteriorating over time. When a planet or personal point in our chart is touched by this placement, things don’t just fall apart on us “all of the sudden” – it’s gradual and slow; ostensibly because of the gravitas attached to this transformational process. When a termination occurs under Pluto in Capricorn, it’s not uncommon for it to be a drawn-out, prolonged sort of demise – the blessing in this is we have ample time during this transitional state to put our ducks in a row and prepare for the new reality or “new normal” that awaits us on The Other Side so it’s less of a shock to the system. A planned ending or extraction may indeed come into play; possibly one that runs on a delay while all the proper elements/steps are calculated, organized, and then systematically executed. For the transformation of Pluto in Capricorn isn’t likely to be quick or easy; it is hard, time-consuming work that is often fraught with obstacles, so we may need to take our time. If we are spiritually inclined, this may be an instance where petitioning Ganesha – the tusked pachyderm deity known as the Remover of Obstacles in the Hindu pantheon – may come in handy.
A statuette of Ganesha courtesy of the Walters Art Museum.
I should also speak to another important facet of Pluto-in-Capricorn endings, as they’re apt to be very matter-of-fact. Capricorn’s energy has the effect of minimizing the potential trauma attached to this ordeal so it’s more of an “Alright, let’s get on with it” kind of thing where we handle the situation an adult manner instead of kicking and screaming about it. Anything that dies on Pluto in Capricorn’s watch should be looked at as legitimately non-functional, and while a post-mortem autopsy as to the cause(s) may prove useful, the expiration may have been more or less anticipated for some time thus dialing down the drama-factor considerably. When we’ve seen it coming and/or know that normal life expectancy has more or less been reached in a situation, it can be considerably less upsetting/tragic. The Hi-Fi use of this energy handles endings maturely; seeing no practical good in making them any harder than they need to be and preferring instead to conserve energy for rebuilding.
On that note, picking up where I left off re: this placement’s capacity for “constructive destruction”, I think of it as a “controlled implosion” similar to the demolition of the old hotels and casinos along the Vegas Strip. Capricorn is the Architect and Master Builder, and if the metaphorical footings are rotten or a structure is obsolete in our lives, building code dictates that it’s going to have to come completely down if a new skeleton is to be erected in the footprints of What Once Stood Before. We cannot simply piecemeal things together – we have to scrap it and rebuild, but the RIGHT way! As I alluded to earlier, it is a systematic overhaul, and these kinds of things are never overnight.
When Pluto in Capricorn touches a planet or point in the nativity, sometimes instead we are able to salvage something that is still useful to us or that can be repurposed…this may simply be the “life lessons” we’ve distilled by experiencing this process of disintegration. But in cases where a full razing isn’t required, it is important to take our time reinforcing the weak areas that have been degrading in order to build them up from the inside out – consider this metaphor in a psychological context as well. I would say that in certain cases, the destruction of Pluto in Capricorn may indeed be preventable, but the problem is preventative maintenance is often let go with this placement so that whatever has fallen into disrepair eventually goes off the rails completely. A failure to hit the brakes before this point-of-no-return can absolutely prove fatal, so when we see fissures appearing in the walls the keynote is to stop and address them because they’re not just cosmetic and more than likely indicate a severe underlying issue.
Whether we start over on more solid underpinnings or are able to arrest the process of deterioration in its tracks with the aid of some heavy restructuring, it’s important that any demo work be done carefully and respectfully. Something *has* to come down when Pluto in Capricorn touches our chart, but by handling the teardown process responsibly and with honor, we set the right energetic precedent for the “rebuilding” part of the equation. In some respects the moment we stop resisting the letting go process the reconstruction can already be considered underway, because it’s all about eliminating stale, locked-up energy; especially that which has somehow become ingrained in the status quo. And holding space for this to unfold in due time is important, because a quality restoration matters.
Image of Pluto’s “snakeskin” surface comes courtesy of the New Horizons Spacecraft @ NASA.
Wow, this Pluto thing just keeps getting better & better, doesn’t it? Now NASA has revealed that Pluto appears to have a surface reminiscent of snakeskin, something that definitely comes as no surprise to both astrologers & Plutonians alike! In astrological lore, Pluto energy has long been analogous to a snake shedding its skin – I’m not kidding; pick up pretty much any beginner’s book on astrology or perform a cursory internet search using these terms and you’re virtually guaranteed to come across this metaphor.
Boy, for or a bunch of pseudoscience kooks, we astrologers sure do seem amazingly clued in sometimes, don’t you think? 😉 As I once remarked elsewhere, someday science will catch up with the things astrology already knows. It’s all part of the joys of this being a Uranian art – people think you’re crazy when actually you’re just way ahead of the times. Like, apparently decades ahead in this case…!
And one better? The sign of Capricorn is associated with (among many other things) the skin, so how fitting with Pluto currently traversing Capricorn that we’re getting a good look at Pluto’s epidermis!
At first they may seem small…trivial, even. Small enough to miss if we were to take each one out of context and look at it on its own. But they will also be bountiful – we’re going to get so many of them that if we back up and take it all in, it will coalesce into something huge we can’t miss. Jupiter in Virgo is like pointillism – if we stand too close, we only see the tiny dots and so don’t think much of it. But if we get some distance (read:perspective), we can see how all the minor details actually come together to make this grand picture. So what is “insignificant” under this energy, really? Nothing, because when we put all the little pieces together and connect the dots, The Sign becomes concrete. It’s regarding a major renovation/upgrade somewhere in our life…perhaps something health/wealth/work-related since we do have the Earth signs involved. Especially if you have a planet or point in your chart situated between 14-18 degrees of Taurus, Virgo, or Capricorn, do pay particular attention now. This aspect becomes exact on June 26th, when The Omens are apt to be strongest, but both these celestial bodies are within proximity to one another throughout June so definitely be on the lookout!
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